Suddenly September - 2016

September 3 - Summer Favorites

Summer favorites is the question from Bailey Jean and the Blog-tember Challenge.

I'd have to say the Summer Concert Series put on at the Mountain Winery is my biggest thrill each year.  This year we were able to score some pretty great seats since we had gotten tickets for four shows last year which gave us Loyalty Club status.  Of course we saw four concerts this year as well, to keep our Loyalty Club perk of advanced ticket sales next year.

All four bands we saw were great, but my OMG moment was the first concert, Foreigner.  We have seen Foreigner five or six times now and have loved every show.  We know that Kelly Hansen, the lead singer, goes out into the crowd during several of the songs to get up close and personal with the fans.  This year, in addition to being in the SECOND ROW (!), Kelly came and STOOD RIGHT NEXT TO ME and then, when he was climbing over the seats to get back to the stage, climbed right over my seat.  I put my hand on his back (or maybe it was his butt (?) to lift him safely across.

Here he is right next to me on his way back to the stage!!!

The band Boston was next and we went with some friends to that one.  They sing the song "Amanda" which is our daughter's name.  We had never seen them in concert before so that was a fun experience.

After Boston came Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo.  We had seen them before several times as well but this time Melissa Etheridge was their opening act and that was a surprise treat.

Melissa Etheridge

Pat and Neil

Our last show at the Winery this year was Peter Frampton.  We had seen him before too but when we saw the set list, a lot of the songs did not look familiar to us.  Once he started singing though, we remembered them.    

I think of the four concerts we saw at the Mountain Winery, Peter Frampton was the most disappointing.  He wanted only pictures to be taken during the first three songs and I have a problem with people who limit my picture taking.

But the Mountain Winery is not the only venue we go to to see concerts in the summer.  

We also saw Adele at Oracle Arena in Oakland:

Peter Gabriel and Sting at SAP Center in San Jose:

And summer would not be complete without baseball and fireworks!

We are not quite finished with our concert going for the year.  We have a huge San Francisco Fest coming up tomorrow, an old Day on the Green type event with Tower of Power, Doobie Brothers, Steve Miller, Santana and Journey.  Can't wait for that one and I'm crossing my fingers and praying to the angels that Steve Perry is persuaded to come and sing a song or two.

Our final concert this year is at Shoreline in Mountain View.  There we will see Def Leppard, Tesla and REO Speedwagon.
I guess, like Gale Garnett says, "We'll sing in the sunshine, we'll laugh everyday," is our summer theme!  How about you?  What defines your summer?